Welcome to the Soldier Side
by MadnessinmyMethod
Summary: Violence. Sanity. Insanity. Death. There are things a soldier needs to survive. Welcome to the Soldier Side. Where there's no one here but me. A Water Tribe story and songfic. People all grow up to die.


**Soldier Side**

**By MadnessinmyMethod**

**Sorry to anyone who was hoping for more of Zuko the Magician. I just need some time to think of new ideas. However I do have a lot more spare time now, so I'll be working on that and probably get some work done for Because I Don't Make Mistakes. And by the way, I found this random site which to my absolute horror was a petition site to get Avatar the Last Airbender off the air. If you'd like to read my rant about why those people are essentially full of shit, do go to my profile, it's on the bottom. Anyway, I've been meaning to do this songfic for awhile because I thought the song was really good. And so I do not own this lovely song. It is System of a Down's Soldier Side. Do enjoy.**

The battlefield is always as full as it is empty. It is full because of the physical matter within. It is empty because no soul lives after war is done. Every soldier knows this. After the first battle, the first fight, the first death, a soldier learns a valuable lesson. No man can escape death. No man, even if he has children, a wife, family, even if he is a young man destined for great things, he cannot escape death at the hands of the enemy. It is a terrible thing to kill a man. No soldier forgets the first man he kills. The eyes forever remain etched in his mind. A man learns to shut down whilst he kills. He learns lest he go mad. A killer cannot be aware of what he does and still be sane.

Hakoda had learned all these things in one day. His first day in battle. They had left the South Pole only mere days ago before they'd made land on Earth Kingdom shores. They happened to make land near a very poor section of the Earth Kingdom that had been one of the first to succumb to the might of the Fire Nation army.

_Dead men lying on the bottom of the grave_

_Wondering when savior comes_

_Is he gonna be saved?_

The morning had been crisp and clear, a fine morning by any means. One would not expect such a morning to hold such a dismal future. One might expect to enjoy a peaceful breakfast, then perhaps if one was traveling to enjoy an uneventful day on the road and so forth. Such things did not happen to the Southern Water Tribe Warriors. A few hours into the morning, when all the men had just been ready to go, they were ambushed by a small platoon of Fire Nation soldiers.

_Maybe you're a sinner_

_Into your alternate life_

_Maybe you're a joker_

_Maybe you deserve to die_

The Water Tribe Men responded as quickly as anyone would during an ambush. They took up their spears and fought with vigor and bravery. Hakoda himself was known for his skillful use of the spear. He found himself able to push the Fire Nation soldiers back, wound them, knock them down, but never did his strike a killing blow.

_They were crying when their sons left_

_God is wearing black_

_He's gone so far to find no hope_

_He's never coming back_

Hakoda was not the only one who could not bring himself to kill. Many of the men lacked the mindset to do so. His best friend, Bato, who fought with dual swords, found himself trying to knock men out with the butt of his sword rather then behead them. That is not to say that all men were not capable of killing. Some men who had suffered terrible losses at the hands of the Fire Nation raids found themselves overwhelmed by a terrible rage, detaching themselves from the sane world and entering a world where a man can kill another.

_They were crying when their sons left_

_All young men must go_

_He's gone so far to find no truth_

_He's never going home_

It was then though, that a fatal blow was struck upon one of their own. It was a young boy, barely of age. He was green, very green. He shouldn't have had to fight that day. Any other day he would have been scrubbing the decks or cooking the meals.

_Young men standing on the top of their own graves_

_Wondering when Jesus comes_

_Are they gonna be saved_

It was then that every man no longer found himself restricted by moral values and sanity. They left themselves and were replaced by killing machines. Each man found himself possessed by a deadly rage and found it within his capacity to kill the Fire Nation scumbags they locked in battle with.

_Cruelty to the winner_

_Bishop tells the king his lies_

_Maybe you're a mourner_

_Maybe you deserve to die_

Hakoda himself saw red. Nothing but red. His eyes shaded everything in red. Something within him, something he came to call the beast, demanded that the real world be painted red to match. It demanded blood. Hakoda was all too willing to be the one to spill it. He hardened and drove his spear into a soldier gut. The man died instantly.

_They were crying when their sons left_

_God is wearing black_

_He's gone so far_

_To find no hope he's never coming back_

Hakoda stared at the blood in fascination. It spilled almost elegantly over the end of his spear and stained the sand with murder. Time passed slowly. The shouts and yells of his fellows seemed to echo across the beach. He swung his spear up sharply to meet a sword swung at his back. He had not seen it coming, and he had not heard it coming. He just knew that it had been coming.

_They were crying their sons left_

_All young men must go_

_He's gone so far to find no truth_

_He's never going home_

Hakoda killed another man. He barely registered that somewhere to his left Bato had killed yet another soldier. The beach that had been so clean and sparkling was now littered with blood and bodies. Few of the Fire Nation soldiers remained. It seemed that they realized this disadvantage. They were pulling back towards the trees, their means of escape.

_Welcome _

_To the soldier side_

_Where there's no one here but me_

_People _

_All grow up to die_

_There is no one here but me_

Some of the men started to give chase, but Hakoda woke from his trance of murder and called out to them. "Stop." The other men snapped back to reality. Hakoda glanced around the beach, empty of life. They Water Men were alive yes, but in the last hour they'd lost something. It was impossible to name, but each of them now had a place in their mind to hide away their sanity while they slaughtered other men. Men just like them. Hakoda looked at the bodies and the red sand and began to cry. Only one of them was Water Tribe. The rest were Fire Nation.

_Welcome_

_To the soldier side_

_Where there's no one here but me_

_People_

_On the soldier side_

_There is no one here but me_

The Water Tribe men slowly piled up the bodies. The Fire Nation bodies were set afire as was tradition in the Fire Nation. Hakoda was a superstitious man and felt that if they failed to give the soldiers a somewhat proper burial, they would forever haunt them. The young Water Tribe boy who had been killed was cleaned up and placed in a makeshift canoe. They covered him in a shroud, set him afire, pushed him out to sea, and whispered a small prayer that his soul might find the spirit world in peace.

**There you have it. I highly suggest System of A Down, do read my other stories, and review. That's about it. I'll be working on my other stories soon. ;) **


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